Just a few days ago we photographed Minnesotans Matthew & Mikayla's sunset Engagement Session down at Purdue University! This was our first time meeting with these two in person. Our first face-to-face meeting was via Skype because these two live in Minnesota (whereas we live a few states away in Indiana). It just so happened that this past weekend they had already planned to be down in Indiana to attend a wedding, so they figured it'd be a great time for us to capture their Engagement Session at their alma mater! We found out via our Skype conversation with these two that they also know Abbey & Greg: An amazing couple whose wedding we photographed last April 2017 at St. Mary's College here in South Bend and Riverside Terrace in Mishawaka. (We'd also photographed Greg & Abbey's Engagement Session up in St. Joe, Michigan on the beaches back in mid-2016 and they've since moved to California!) We were thrilled to hear about Mikayla's ties to South Bend and how they also knew Abbey & Greg and we were really happy that these two chose to have their Engagement Session back where they first met in college and had started dating.
These two are getting married in a little less than 4 months at the end of September at St. Matthew's Cathedral here in South Bend with their reception at St. Hedwig, so after capturing this Engagement Session for them we've gotten even more excited about photographing their wedding! But let's back up really quickly and chat about their Engagement Session as we share our favorite Teasers from the evening!
Mikayla and Matthew drove down from Minnesota to Indiana on Thursday which they said was a little over a 7 hour drive. They attended a family member's graduation on Friday, then headed down to Purdue on Saturday with Mikayla's parents from South Bend! The drive is a little over 2 hours, so we all had a 4.5 hour drive down that evening which we didn't mind since it's where Mikayla and Matthew initially met and is special to them. We started at the Engineering Fountain at Purdue University which you may remember from past Purdue Weddings and Engagement Sessions that we've captured last year, 2016, and prior. Matthew was most excited for the images at the fountain, so that fact mixed with the cooling mist made it a perfect place to start the session.
Next on the way to the "P" statue at Purdue, we photographed them on the brand new walkway by the Purdue Bell Tower. Luckily years of construction in the area near the tower were completed and allowed for a great location to feature the couple and the tower above. From there we captured some photos of them at the famous "Unfinished P" statue before heading to the Memorial Union.
At the Memorial Union these two changed into their other outfit when we headed inside and then we photographed them for some traditional photos on the steps, by the entrance door, and on the balcony of the second floor. Jason set up some studio lights for these just for some added "oomph." While photographing there we had fond memories of wedding receptions we'd photographed there at the Union in the past!
Once we left the Memorial Union we quickly photographed Mikayla and Matthew by the Purdue sign just outside, then headed right next to it onto the Memorial Mall for a few photos on the hall and a handful more by the fountain there (both accompanied by some lights on stands). We also tried to head over to get photos of them inside the hall that they'd met in, but it was locked since it's summer session at Purdue, so we just snapped some photos of them outside of Smith Hall instead.
It was time for sunset, so we headed toward Jenny's car to drive Matthew & Mikayla 5 minutes away to their last location at a short drive from the main campus. The sunset was gorgeous right then, so we decided that we should snap a few photos of them with the sunset on the top of the parking garage that we were at before driving over to the last location!
The last spot we photographed these two at was the Theta Chi fraternity that Matthew had belonged to while at Purdue. We took some photos of them by the sign, then they popped a bottle of champagne for the end of the photos!
Afterward they and Mikayla's parents asked if we wanted to join them at Harry's Chocolate Shop at Purdue for some appetizers and a refreshment, so we joined. We love the atmosphere there and it was great chatting with they and their parents! We'd hoped to head to Triple XXX (for a peanut butter burger) and/ or the Greystone Coffee Shop, but it was late and both closed shortly after we were done, so we plan on heading to those next time we photograph an Engagement Session or Wedding down there! (Or maybe we'll take a summer weekday road trip down if things slow down at any point during Wedding Season...?)
We had a blast and cannot wait to photograph Mikayla & Matthew's wedding coming up in a little under 4 months here in South Bend! Thank you two for coming in from Minnesota and heading down to Purdue for your Engagement Session! We hope the wedding on Sunday in Fort Wayne was great amidst the 90 degree heat and that your travels back to Minnesota were safe! (We know it was a whopping almost 23 hours of driving/ car time within so few days and we really appreciate everything!)
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Unrelated: As we finish up editing two more weddings from this May, we have 4 Wedding Boxes and 5 physical Wedding Albums that we'll be designing this June once our 7 couples (whose photo edits are done) choose their photos-! We have physical photos to send out tomorrow and are so excited to get going on these 9 awesome big projects! We have 10 more wedding boxes to stain and engrave in June, so June will be a huge wedding photo product month among the new weddings we'll be photographing in June as well! The "Wedding Season" will slow down after all of October's weddings and we'll hopefully get to finish up wedding products for 2018 in December! So far so good though on the amazing 2018 Wedding Season! May was a huge wedding month for us and we're looking forward to the rest of the season to come!
We're also SO excited to be working with some more couples who just signed their 2019 wedding contracts! We'll be photographing some of their Engagement Sessions this summer and we're so excited about what's to come next year! There are so many amazing couples who we get to work with this year and more who've already solidified their dates for next year. Let your engaged friends and family members (no matter where in the country/ world they are) know that we're still booking 2019 and 2020 wedding dates-!!